


Power Conservation Mode

by JCapasso



Series: The Barn [1]
Category: Haven (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-07
Updated: 2020-12-09
Packaged: 2021-03-09 18:27:00
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 16,721
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27940739
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JCapasso/pseuds/JCapasso
Summary: After Nathan shoots Howard and Duke dives into the barn after Audrey, they learn that the barn isn't imploding, but it's now in Power conservation mode and they're trapped for probably years. At least the simulated worlds are still running.
Relationships: Duke Crocker/Audrey Parker
Series: The Barn [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2048234
Comments: 18
Kudos: 12





	1. Chapter 1

Duke and Nathan watched in horror as the barn seemed to be imploding with Audrey inside. Duke was also worried about Nathan who was shot pretty badly. Nathan didn’t care about himself though. “Get her, Duke,” he told his friend. If there was anyone who could do it, Duke could. When he seemed to hesitate he tried again. “Go! Save her!” 

Duke looked back to make sure someone was coming to help Nathan before he got up and ran towards the folding barn as quickly as he could and literally dove towards it with a cry of, “Audrey!” Once he was inside he saw nothing but dull white walls in what looked like a maze. “Audrey!” he called again and again until finally he saw her and couldn’t help a sigh of relief. She was still alive. Now he just had to keep her that way. 

“Duke? What are you doing here?” she asked worriedly. 

“Come on. We gotta find a way out of here,” he said quickly, grabbing her arm, not willing to lose her in this maze again. 

“What happened to respecting my decision?” she snatched her arm away hurt. 

“I was all for that sweetheart, but Nathan kinda took the decision out of our hands,” Duke tried to explain. “He shot the fed guy and now the barn is going down. With us inside if we can’t get out.” 

“He what?!” Audrey snapped angrily. “I thought you were going to keep him under control.”

“I was,” Duke huffed. “And I did. But he got my gun and then Jordan came back and started shooting and it all went to hell. Can we please just talk about it later and get out of here?” 

“I…um…” Audrey looked around, not even sure if there was a way out at all. 

Before either of them could move much, the maze they were in suddenly shrank to what seemed like one room and the lights went dim. “Power conservation mode activated. Please choose your waiting room,” a computerized voice that only sounded a little bit like Agent Howard told them. 

“What does that mean, power conservation mode?” Audrey asked confused. 

“Emergency power is running to see to the life and well being of passengers. All other systems are disabled for repairs,” the computerized voice answered. 

“James,” Audrey asked worriedly. “Where’s James?” 

“Medical stasis chamber is at full efficiency,” the voice answered. 

“What about the fed guy? Howard? Is that where he is too?” Duke asked curiously noticing the singular ‘chamber’. He had a feeling they were going to need him to get out of here. 

“The controller is disabled and undergoing repairs.”

“Is there anyone else here other than the two of us?” Audrey asked. 

“The holding cell is in full lockdown to prevent prisoner escape,” the voice told them. “Please choose a waiting room.” 

“What does that mean, choose a waiting room,” Duke asked incredulously. 

“Choose a time and location to be placed in,” the voice said with a bit of a weary affectation. 

Duke chuckled and whispered to Audrey, “Is it just me or was there an implied ‘dumbass’ in that tone?” 

“You are correct,” the voice told them and even Audrey couldn’t help but giggle at that. 

“Do you think we can annoy it enough to spit us out?” Duke asked amusedly. 

“Leaving the barn in it’s current state will deposit you into the void,” the voice said warningly. 

“Right. Yeah. Not the best idea then,” Audrey said, biting her lip not to laugh. 

“Please choose a waiting room,” the computer said again, definite impatience in it’s tone now. 

“Well how long are we going to be here?” Duke asked. 

“Unknown,” the computer replied. 

“What does that matter?” Audrey asked him confused. 

“Well if we’re talking weeks or even a couple months then a tropical paradise sounds like a nice vacation, but if we’re gonna be stuck here for years, I want my boat,” Duke pointed out. 

“It is likely to be many years,” the voice interrupted, wondering if a computer could commit suicide. 

“Haven then you think?” Audrey asked. 

“Yeah. That’s probably best. Hey computer voice thingy…can we travel to other places or are we stuck in one place?” 

“Only one simulation can run at a time, however it is fluid,” the voice said wearily. 

“What the hell does that mean?” Duke asked confused. 

“I think it means we can’t split up and go to different places,” Audrey told him. “Hopefully it doesn’t mean that we have to be attached at the hip all the time though.” 

“The maximum range of the simulation is twenty miles,” the voice told them. “Please choose a waiting room.” 

Audrey and Duke both snickered at the pleading tone of the voice before Audrey said, “December fifth two thousand ten in Haven Maine.”

“Please be more specific,” the computer said desperately hoping that this ordeal was nearly over. 

“The Grey Gull restaurant at…three pm,” Duke added, not sure how specific they needed. Hopefully he wouldn’t have to give a table number or something because he never actually numbered his tables.

The scene suddenly shifted around them and they were standing in the empty restaurant and the voice said a quick and rather curt, “Enjoy your stay.”

“Wait!” Audrey called to it. “Where are all the other people?”

“During power conservation mode intelligent life cannot be simulated,” the voice told them. 

“Intelligent life can’t, but fish and animals and stuff?” Duke asked hopefully. 

“Correct. Enjoy your stay,” the computer shut itself down before they could say anything else. Unfortunately, it would be at their beck and call during their stay but it hoped that they wouldn’t realize that. 

“Okay…so…now what?” Audrey asked looking around. 

“Now, I guess we just hope that we can survive here,” Duke shrugged. 

“What do you mean?” 

“Well the cranky voice said this was a simulation. What if it’s too much of a simulation for the food and water and everything to sustain us?” 

“It said that it was designed to see to the live and safety of the passengers so I would assume it wouldn’t overlook something like that,” Audrey reasoned. 

“Who knows what a computer thinks is important,” Duke pointed out. 

“But the computer was designed by people…presumably,” Audrey added, realizing they didn’t really /know/ anything about the barn’s design. “I guess there’s only one way to find out.” 

“You have a point there and I don’t know about you, but I’m starving. With all the drama I haven’t eaten anything today,” Duke told her, already headed for the kitchen. 

“Neither have I. Food sounds perfect,” Audrey quickly agreed. “I’m curious though. Why three pm?” 

Duke shrugged. “All the shipments generally come in by around one so I wanted this place to be fully stocked just in case. Plus it was pretty late and it was a long day so I didn’t want /too/ long before night came, but still enough time to get the lay of the land,” he explained as he pulled out something that he could cook relatively quickly. 

“Smart thinking,” Audrey nodded, in awe of how fast he came up with that out of nowhere. 

“Why December fifth?” he asked her in return. 

“Because I wasn’t sure if the barn wouldn’t just send us back in time and I wanted time to prevent all this if it did. Plus, I know your boat was in dock all day that day, so…”

“Keeping an eye on my comings and goings?” Duke laughed. 

“Not really. I just know that was the day that the whole town spent in a coma and since I checked on you I know you were there,” she chuckled along with him. 

“Fair enough,” he said amusedly as he threw the fish on the grill. 

“So…it looks like we’re stuck here alone for years,” she sighed as the reality of the situation hit her. 

“What, don’t appreciate my company?” Duke joked. 

“No, it’s not that. It’s just…what are we gonna do? It’s gonna get boring with just the two of us,” she pointed out. 

“That’s where you and I differ,” Duke pointed out with a roll of his eyes. “I don’t need other people to amuse myself.” 

“Okay, but…we can’t go out anywhere or hang out with other people…what would we do?” 

“We can go out places. There just won’t be anyone else there. We’re out here aren’t we?” Duke chuckled. “There’s still plenty we can do. We can explore the entire empty world. I can teach you how to fish, dive, we can read, there’s a whole stocked bar here, we can play music, dance like no one’s watching because no one is…” 

Audrey laughed and gave him a nod of thanks, both for that and the plate that he set in front of her. “Okay, I see your point,” she admitted. She knew that she would still get pretty lonely though and wondered if Duke would. As much as he preferred his solitude, years of nothing but might get old even for him. 

“And personally, I think you’re pretty lucky I ended up stranded here with you,” he grinned as they dug into their food. 

“Why’s that?” she asked amusedly, figuring he meant for more than just the company. 

“Otherwise, you would have starved,” he teased mischievously, dodging the stab of her fork. 

“I can cook,” she protested with a laugh. 

“Boiling water doesn’t count,” he joked. “There’s only so much pasta and sandwiches a person can eat you know.” 

She couldn’t argue with that point so she didn’t even try and just gave a playfully petulant pout as she said, “I can cook.” 

Duke laughed and reached over to pat her arm in mock-condescension, “Sure you can, sweetheart.”


	2. Chapter 2

Once they finished eating, Audrey said, “Well, I’m not hungry anymore at least.”

“That’s a good sign,” Duke agreed as he took their plates to put in the sink to worry about later. They were both too exhausted to deal with it now. “How about we go and see if the cars work and take a quick peek around town and see what it’s like here before it gets dark and then we can go crash and worry about the rest tomorrow?” 

“That sounds like a plan. We should probably take your truck though in case we need to clear the road,” Audrey suggested getting a nod from Duke. They spent a little over an hour driving around, and had to stop and clear the road three times. It seemed that everything was left as it was at that time of that day, which meant all the cars that were on the road were abandoned. Most of them they could drive around, but there were a few spots where the road was blocked all the way around. Duke just used his truck to push them out of the way though, so it wasn’t like they had to put too much effort in. 

Everything that was open, including the stores and library, was unlocked here and they took some time to do some basic grocery shopping. “Wonder what’ll happen to the perishables.”

“I don’t know,” Audrey said thoughtfully. “I really hope we don’t have to go milking cows and making cheese and butter and stuff ourselves.” 

“Well there’s no point worrying about it now. We’ll just have to see what happens and figure it out as we go,” Duke shrugged. 

“How can you do that?” Audrey asked in awe as she grabbed a couple gallons of milk.

“Do what?” Duke asked confused. 

“Just let it go like that…and ‘we’ll figure it out’?” 

“What else can we do?” he asked as though it should be obvious. “It’s not like we have an instruction manual or anything. Either it goes bad or it doesn’t. And then we either figure out how to make things or we do without. Stressing over it serves no purpose other than to just stress yourself out.” 

“So you don’t know how to milk cows or do any of that stuff either?” she asked. 

“Not a clue,” Duke chuckled. “I can do just about anything with a boat or an engine or radios and that sort of thing, but I’ve never had much use for cows.” 

“But you think we can figure it out?” she asked hopefully. 

“Sure we can. Might take a little while, but we can always figure it out,” Duke assured her. “But remember too that this is a simulation, so there’s a good chance that it won’t go bad.”

“I hope not. But either way…figuring that stuff out might be something to do if we get too bored,” Audrey decided. 

Duke just laughed and shook his head. “Again with the bored. You really need to learn to appreciate the simple things in life.” 

“Well, apparently you’ll have at least a few years to teach me,” she chuckled. 

“You know I like a challenge,” Duke grinned as he bumped her playfully. 

“What would you do if you were stuck here alone?” she asked curiously. “Without me to challenge you, I mean.”

Duke shrugged. “I don’t know. Probably try a build a new boat from scrap or something like that.”

“Why? I mean, you have the Cape Rouge so it’s not like you need another boat.”

“Weren’t you listening? For the challenge of course,” Duke reminded her amusedly. 

“So…that’s it? Just…find something to do no matter how pointless?” she asked, trying to figure him out. 

“Define pointless,” Duke said with a smirk. “What’s the point of doing anything beyond to be doing something?” 

“I…um…” Audrey was completely stumped at that question. “To have a job and make money?” she grasped for straws. 

“Okay, why?” Duke was enjoying challenging her to think outside the box for once. 

“So that you can pay for a house and clothes and food.”

“Why?” Duke asked again. “Sure a house keeps you from the elements, but so does a tent. Clothes are made to cover your body for protection, but leaves and animal furs and other stuff can do that just fine. You can grow a garden and hunt for meat to get your own food. Make a fire for warmth when it’s cold. You can survive just fine without any of that.” 

“But there’s a difference between living and just surviving. Didn’t you tell me that once? Not to forget to live my life?” 

“You’re absolutely right, but what’s the /point/ of it? Why do anything if you don’t enjoy doing it?” Duke told her. 

“To get other things that you enjoy,” Audrey was starting to see his point. “But it doesn’t mean anything if you don’t have time to enjoy those things. And there doesn’t have to be a purpose to enjoy it.” 

“Exactly,” Duke said proudly. “I enjoy challenging myself, so it doesn’t matter if I’m ever going to /use/ it. Just the act of doing it is enough.” 

“I see what you mean,” Audrey agreed as they loaded up their groceries in the truck. “So you’re saying that I need to find enjoyment in things that don’t depend on other people.”

“Now you’re getting it,” Duke grinned. “And if you want to try milking cows and churning butter and see if you find that fun, you’re welcome to it. Or I can teach you the things that /I/ find fun and see if any of them appeal to you.” 

“I think we’ll stick with what you can teach me first,” she chuckled. “If I don’t find anything there I might branch out some more.” Not only would she enjoy spending the time with him and getting to know him more through his hobbies, but the idea of figuring things out on her own without any help wasn’t something that she was eager to do if she could pass the time happily in other ways. 

By the time they got back to the Gull, the sun was already setting and Duke headed to his boat and Audrey upstairs to crash. None of them had been sleeping well for a while with the whole Hunter thing bearing down on them, not to mention the interrupted sleep when Audrey was taken in the early hours of the morning. 

The next morning, Audrey had only been out of bed for a few minutes when there was a knock on the door and she opened it, completely unsurprised to see Duke with two cups of coffee. She took her usual mug as she let him in. As they sat down, he told her, “It might interest you to know that it doesn’t seem like the perishables will go bad.”

“How do you know?” she asked curiously. 

“I left some milk out last night next to the heater and then tested it this morning. It was warm but still good,” Duke told her. 

“What happened to not worrying about it?” she asked amusedly. 

“Just because we couldn’t find out right that second doesn’t mean it’s not a good idea to find out when we can,” Duke countered with a grin. 

“Apparently I have a lot to learn about this more relaxed way of life,” she joked. 

“Yes. Yes you do. It’s a good thing I’m a good teacher,” he grinned. 

“So what’s the first lesson oh knowledgeable one?” she laughed. 

“The first lesson is how to relax and have your coffee without worrying about future plans,” he rolled his eyes amusedly. “Have you ever done anything just for fun and relaxation in your life?” he couldn’t help but ask. 

“I used to skate when I was a kid. Does that count?” Audrey said somewhat sheepishly, getting a raised eyebrow. “What? I worked two jobs to get through college and then training at Quantico was intensive and then the FBI isn’t much on downtime and since I’ve been here in Haven it’s been one trouble disaster after another.” 

“So what you’re saying is that we have a lot of workaholic conditioning to undo.” 

“Pretty much,” Audrey shrugged. It would be nice to get a break for once. She just didn’t have any idea what to do with herself if she wasn’t working. She was glad that Duke apparently did. 

After a nice leisurely coffee, Duke got up and put the cups in the sink and told her, “Come on.” 

“Where are we going?” she asked as she followed him to his truck. 

“You’ll see,” Duke smirked, and refused to give her more of an answer than that. He parked next to the bridge and motioned to the woods. “Now go find a stick.”

“Why?” she asked. 

“You ever played Poohsticks before?” Duke grinned. 

“I don’t think that sounds very appealing,” she said with a grimace. 

It took a second for Duke to realize what she was thinking and he burst into laughter. “No, not poo like feces. Pooh like Winnie the Pooh.”

“What’s the point of this game?” she asked curiously. 

“Again with the ‘point’?” 

“Okay, let me rephrase,” Audrey chuckled. “How do we play? What kind of stick am I looking for?” 

“One that will float,” he told her. “See we stand on the bridge and drop our sticks at the same time. The first one to make it to the other side of the bridge wins.” 

“And this is supposed to be a fun game?” she asked confused. 

“It’s supposed to teach you to find joy in the simple things. If you can have fun playing something like this, then you can find fun anywhere,” Duke told her. This was one thing he definitely wanted to get across before taking her too far out on the boat. 

“Okay. I guess that makes sense,” Audrey considered as she wandered off looking for a stick. She had no idea what kind of sticks might float, so she was just making a guess, and watching Duke to see if she could figure out what qualities he was looking for. 

Once they’d both chosen a stick they went back to the bridge and Duke said, “Okay now drop it on one…two…three.” He dropped his stick and rushed over to the other side of the bridge, followed closely by Audrey as they watched and he wasted no time teasing her about him winning. 

“Okay, let’s go again, but this time I do the countdown,” she huffed amusedly. 

“Whatever you want sweetheart,” Duke grinned. He won again, and the next few times until Audrey realized that at least part of the reason he was winning was because his stick was hitting the water first so she started looking for heavier sticks. She soon realized that it was a delicate balance between heavy enough to fall fast, but light enough to move quickly and she started to see the appeal of the game. At least while playing with Duke who seemed to be able to make everything fun. The first time she won she started jumping up and down and trash talking, making him laugh even harder and then they really got going. 

Audrey ended up losing track of time until Duke stopped them and went to grab a cooler and a blanket out of his truck for a picnic lunch. He spread the blanket out right there on the bridge and started handing out food, along with a couple beers. “Having fun?” he asked. 

“Yeah, actually,” she admitted. “I didn’t think I would, but…yeah, I actually am.”

“I told you. I’m a good teacher,” he joked. 

“I don’t know if I’d go that far,” she teased. “I mean, you did let me flounder until I figured out the trick to the sticks myself.” 

“You think I’m going to help my opponent win?” he asked in faux shock. “Besides, it’s more fun to figure it out for yourself. You can’t be handed /all/ the answers.” 

They had a nice fun lunch full of jokes and teasing and plenty of food and two beers each later, Audrey was helping Duke pack it back up. “So what’s next?” she asked him.


	3. Chapter 3

“Well that’s up to you. We can play some more Poohsticks or we can do something else,” Duke offered. 

“Like what?” she asked curiously. 

“You ever been sledding?”

“I didn’t see a sled in your truck,” she said confused. 

“Who needs a sled?” he chuckled. 

“Well…it’s kinda there in the name. ‘Sled’ing,” she pointed out. 

Duke rolled his eyes and walked around to the front of the truck. “Watch and learn grasshopper.” He grabbed his toolbox and popped his hood. 

Audrey realized what he was doing pretty quickly. “We’re going to sled down the hill on your hood?” she asked incredulously. 

“If you don’t have a sled…or whatever you want at any given time…you make one,” Duke told her. 

“But what if we crash it and mess it up?” she asked. 

“Then I’ll fix it,” Duke shrugged. “Or even teach you to fix it if you want.” 

“Okay, what if we crash and get hurt?” she asked pointedly. “There aren’t exactly any doctors here to help us.” The memory of Nathan’s story about breaking his arm so badly as a kid popped into her mind. 

“First aid is one of those things I know pretty well, Audrey,” he assured her. “Not having access to doctors is something I’m more than used to. There aren’t exactly any on the water either.” 

“Still…I mean…if it’s bad enough…”

Duke finished getting the hood off and leaned it against the side of the truck for now. “We’ll be careful,” he promised. “I can’t promise we won’t end up with some scrapes and bruises, but I don’t intend to be reckless enough to break bones and stuff.” He waited until he saw the apprehension fade from her and he grinned. “So come on. Come sledding with me?” he asked hopefully, holding out his hand. 

“Okay,” she agreed with a heavy breath as she took his hand. “But if you get me killed Duke Crocker…”

Duke barked a laugh. “If I can keep you alive with all the trouble disasters I think I can keep you alive for a little sledding.”

“/You/ keep /me/ alive? I’m pretty sure that’s usually the other way around?” she laughed bumping his hip with hers as they trudged up the hill. 

“You keep thinking that, sweetheart,” he teased, ducking her arm as she tried to hit him. 

They only sledded for a few hours and devolved into a snowball fight once before Duke pointed out that the sun would start setting soon so they headed back to the truck. He took ten minutes to put the hood back on his truck and they headed back to town where he cooked up a nice dinner at the Gull for them. “Thanks for today, Duke. It really was a lot of fun.”

“Even with that bruise on your elbow?” he chuckled. 

“Yeah. Even with that,” she laughed. “How’s your back?” The same crash where she’d hurt her elbow, he’d grabbed her and taken the bulk of the impact on his back. 

“It’s fine. I’ve had much worse,” he assured her amusedly. 

“Let me see?” she asked now that they were inside and warmed up a bit. Duke shrugged and finished setting the steaks on the grill before stripping off his shirt so she could check it. Audrey grabbed a spare rag and wet it before going to clean up the blood and get a better look, making Duke wince at first. “Sorry. Did that hurt?” 

Duke snorted amusedly. “Little bit. But mostly it’s just cold.” 

“Sorry,” she chuckled as she continued cleaning it up. “It looks a little scraped up. Some alcohol or peroxide couldn’t hurt.” It was mostly bruised though, but not too badly. 

“First aid kit is under the bar,” he told her and she went to get it. 

While he flipped the steaks she used the alcohol wipes on his back and then one for her scraped elbow. “All done,” she told him, unable to resist trailing her hand down the unbruised side of his back as she said it. 

Duke nodded and shrugged his overshirt back on, only bothering with a few of the buttons. The undershirt was dirty and bloody so there wasn’t much point in putting that back on now. After a leisurely dinner, Audrey got up to start washing the dishes, from tonight and last night. When Duke went to help her she shook her head and told him, “No, you sit. You’re doing all the cooking. The least I can do is the cleaning.”

“I can’t exactly argue with that,” Duke chuckled as he ducked out to the bar area and poured himself a glass of whiskey and made her a margarita and set it next to the sink for her. Once she finished up, they had a few more drinks and then went their separate ways for the rest of the evening. Audrey curled up with a book that she’d been meaning to read for months but never got the time and Duke spent some time in meditation. 

When Duke didn’t show up with coffee the next morning, she figured he wanted to do his own thing for the day so she decided to do the same. As she brewed her own coffee, she pulled out her map of Haven…once she remembered where she had put it so long ago…and she drew a circle covering the twenty-mile point from the Gull, which covered most of the town, so she knew where she could go without causing problems. 

Her first stop was the library for some new books since she was apparently going to have plenty of time to read now and then she went to a clothing store to stock up on winter clothes. She hadn’t really gotten much for this year since she was supposed to be disappearing and last winter she had been woefully underprepared for her first Maine winter. Not to mention the fact that her current winter clothes weren’t particularly appropriate for boating and she figured she’d probably be spending at least /some/ time on the water with Duke. Especially since he was talking about teaching her to fish and dive and stuff. Though she fully intended to nix the diving until the summer at least. 

The rest of the morning was spent stocking up on plenty of winter clothes, not wanting to be caught off guard again this year, and she made sure that at least half of them were okay for being on the boat. She stopped at the deli and grabbed one of the premade subs for lunch and then headed home. When she pulled up, she saw Duke moving boxes onto the dock and she walked over. “That’s a lot of boxes,” she chuckled. 

“Yeah, I’m cleaning out some cargo space since I don’t actually need most of this stuff here…and since you can’t arrest me here I figure it’s pretty safe,” he said amusedly. 

Audrey snorted and shook her head. “I wouldn’t have arrested you back home either unless you did something /really/ stupid or blatant, you know.”

“Well, that’s good to know for future reference. And for the record…I don’t do stupid or blatant.” 

“I know,” she grinned. “You need any help?” 

“Nah, I got it. I’m just getting it all out of the way,” he told her. 

“Okay, well you know where I am if you change your mind,” she told him before heading back to her car to get it unloaded and everything upstairs. 

When Duke saw the multitude of bags she had he laughed and called over, “What’d you do? Clean out the whole store?” 

“You do realize how cold it gets here in the winter right?” she called back amusedly. 

“Not really, no,” he admitted. He’d long grown so used to it he barely noticed anymore except on the most extreme days. 

Most of Audrey’s afternoon was spent getting everything sorted and put away and she had barely finished that when there was a knock at her door. “I was about to start cooking dinner so I figured I’d ask if I’m cooking for one or for two.”

“Two. Please. Thank you,” she told him, following him out and back to the Rouge this time instead of the Gull. Audrey mostly watched him cook, but he did let her chop and stir some things and over dinner she asked, “So in this whole teaching thing…is driving the boat one of my options to learn?” 

Duke chuckled as he told her, “Of course. If you want. But you’re not taking the helm alone for at least a week though.”

“Not that I’m complaining, but is there a reason other than the obvious?” she asked curiously. 

“I figure there’s probably at least a few boats out there adrift like there were cars on the road. I’m practiced enough to navigate around them, but it’ll probably take a bit for them to end up beached somewhere. At least the ones close to shore anyway where more of the traffic is.” 

“Oh yeah. I didn’t think of that,” Audrey admitted. 

“But there’s no reason not to start teaching you anyway. We can do that tomorrow if you want,” he suggested. 

“Yeah. Tomorrow works,” she easily agreed. 

“Did you want to take a long trip or stay close to home this time?” he asked her. 

“Long trip like where?” 

“I don’t know. The Bahamas, Brazil, Hawaii, Australia, Japan, wherever you want. The world is our oyster,” he said gesturing his arms wide. 

“Is it safe to go that far? I mean, what if the boat breaks down or starts leaking or something like that?” she asked. 

Duke snorted and shook his head. “What do you think I usually do out there when that happens? Call a tow truck?” 

“Does that kind of thing happen often?” 

“I wouldn’t say /often/, but it does happen. I assure you though that there is not a thing on this boat that I can’t fix or at least rig on the fly,” Duke promised. “I even have a full set of sails in case then engine blows completely and yes I know how to use them.” 

“Okay. Then I guess we can do a long trip at some point. But maybe stay close for at least a little while until I’m more comfortable on the boat?” 

“Fair enough,” Duke agreed. 

The next morning, he met her with coffee which they drank leisurely and then spent the morning with him teaching her how to drive the boat and run the navigation and other instruments, despite the fact that he hardly needed them in these waters. She would. When lunchtime came around, he dropped anchor and they ate out on the deck and then spent the afternoon just lounging around chatting comfortably until after dinner when they started heading back and they easily settled into a routine.


	4. Chapter 4

One or two days a week they would do their own thing, and the rest of the days were spent together, sometimes teaching her to run the boat or fish or just playing around like Poohsticks and sledding. Audrey was really getting into this whole fun and relaxed lifestyle and they’d been there a month by her count, not that Duke ever used calendars, before her urges got the better of her again. They were sitting on the couch in her apartment chatting when the subject of how they got there came up for the first time when Duke joked, “You know, I might thank Nathan someday for this nice vacation.” 

Audrey ignored the Nathan part of the comment, but it did bring up something that she didn’t think she’d said yet. “I don’t think I thanked you for what you did back there.”

“For what? Failing to keep Nathan under control,” he huffed. 

“No, for trying,” she told him. 

“Still…you trusted me to handle it and I let you down,” Duke sighed. 

“You didn’t let me down, Duke,” she said gently as she put a hand on his arm prompting him to look at her. “You respected my choice. That means more to me than you know.” 

“I told you before, Audrey. You can choose your own destiny. And I’ll do anything you need me to do to help,” he almost whispered, getting lost in her eyes like he so often did. 

Audrey was just as lost in his eyes before she leaned forward and captured his lips with hers. Duke kissed her back eagerly, pulling her close as she tangled a hand in his hair as her other hand gripped at his shoulders. When Duke realized that it wasn’t showing any signs of stopping this time, he forced himself to pull away, but didn’t go far. She was completely sober this time so he wasn’t as concerned about that. When she started to move further away, he tightened his hand around her waist, not enough that she couldn’t move if she wanted to, but enough to be a clear invitation to stay. “Okay, see, as much as I would really rather not spend the next however many years we’re stuck here celibate…I think we need to define things up front. You know, so that I don’t end up getting my hopes up for more.” 

Audrey opened her mouth to say something before the last part of his statement dawned on her. “Getting your hopes up? Does that mean that you…you want…more?” 

“Not if it’s because I’m the only option,” he said seriously. 

“Why would you think that would be why…” Audrey trailed off trying to figure out if that made any sense at all. 

“Because we had a date once remember? You stood me up. You made your feelings clear. And I’m okay with that. Really. I like being your friend. I just need to know where the lines are in this new situation we’re in is all.” 

“I stood you up because I had to work,” Audrey told him. “People were dying.”

“And you knew for two days, at least, that you would end up on that stakeout that night. And I didn’t hear a word about it until I called you when you were late,” Duke reminded her. 

Audrey winced. “I’m sorry. I forgot…”

“I know you did,” Duke told her. “Like I said. You made your feelings clear. I wasn’t important enough to you for you to remember.” 

“No, that’s not…I mean…It wasn’t…” 

“It’s okay, Audrey,” he assured her softly. “I’m not upset about it.” He didn’t see the point in adding the ‘anymore’ on the end of that sentence. “It just wasn’t meant to be is all.” 

“Okay, listen. What I did was awful and I regret it more than you know. There’s no excuse for it, but I’d like to explain if you’ll let me,” she /needed/ to make sure that this misunderstanding of sorts was set straight. 

“On one condition,” he agreed. “I don’t want to hear any pretty lies designed to spare my feelings because they really aren’t necessary and would do the exact opposite of help us now.” 

“I promise,” she said solemnly, getting a nod to go ahead from Duke. “At that point we’d only known each other a couple months. I…I wanted to go. At least part of me did, but…well…I was scared.” 

“Of what?” he prompted when she didn’t seem like any more was coming. 

“I was an FBI agent. Dedicated my whole life to law and order. And you were…pretty much the exact opposite. You were a known felon. Showed no remorse for any of the laws you regularly broke…”

“So what…you were afraid that I was going to use you or something?” Duke asked, trying not to feel hurt by that. 

“No. I mean maybe a little, but mostly it was…I was afraid /I/ would end up compromising myself for you. That I wasn’t strong enough to hold onto who I was around you. Remember this was before all the Lucy and Sarah identity crises and I was just a rather green FBI agent,” she told him. 

“So you thought that instead of just saying no. Or even calling to cancel. Standing me up was a better option?” he asked, definitely hurt this time. 

“No, that wasn’t…I mean…It really wasn’t intentional. Not consciously anyway. Subconsciously, maybe, but not…” 

“Yeah, I guess I can get that,” he admitted. “I mean, it’s not like the idea of dating a fed didn’t scare the hell out of me too.”

“But you got past that,” she half asked. 

“Yeah. I did. Decided you were worth the risk,” Duke shrugged. 

“I’m sorry I didn’t figure that part out sooner,” she said sadly. “I…hoped that you would try to reschedule.”

“After already getting my heart stomped on once? Not likely,” he scoffed. 

“Is it…I mean…Is that why you pulled back in Colorado?” she asked nervously. 

“Mostly yeah,” he admitted. “But also…you’d been drinking and I couldn’t tell just /how/ in control of your faculties you were. I wasn’t going to risk taking advantage of you while you were drunk.”

“Why didn’t you just ask me then?” 

“Because there was no guarantee that /you/ knew how in control you were either,” he huffed amusedly. “I waited for you to bring it up after since I was /clearly/ not drunk, but when you didn’t I just figured you came to your senses once your head cleared. I mean…you did light out of there pretty quick once we stopped.” 

“That was…I was just…” she sighed. “You were the only thing holding me together at that point when I was so close to falling apart. I couldn’t risk losing your friendship by pushing something you didn’t want. I told you that…”

“No, what you said was that you didn’t have time to fix our friendship. How was I supposed to know what you meant by that?” he chuckled, actually starting to believe that he might be able to have this. Maybe. 

“What did you think I meant?” she asked him. 

“That it would be a mistake and the morning after regrets would be an issue,” he said as though it should be obvious. 

“That was pretty much the opposite of what I meant,” she huffed. “I guess that explains why you didn’t say anything. I waited…wanted you to tell me what you wanted. To stop me from going. Something. But when I realized that I was just buzzed enough that I was on the verge of saying screw it and just jumping you anyway I just had to get out of there.”

“So, what we’re saying here is that we really need to work on our communication,” Duke said amusedly, trailing his thumb over her cheek. 

“Something like that,” she smiled, leaning into his touch. “I…I’m going to propose something that scares the crap out of me, but…I think it’s kinda necessary right now given the situation we’re in and all.” 

“Why does it scare you?” he asked first. 

“Also because of the situation we’re in. I mean…we’re stuck with only each other as company for years at least and…well if we blow up our friendship too…”

“Audrey,” Duke stopped her. “You don’t really think that our friendship is that fragile do you?” he asked almost hurt by the implication. “I mean, look at everything we’ve been through. Do you really think that there’s anything that either of us could say here that we couldn’t get past?” 

“I…I guess not. When you put it like that,” she relaxed a lot. 

“Now, depending on what it is and how things go, I can’t promise it won’t be a little awkward for a while, but we can deal with that. If anything our current position is even more incentive to do so. Whether we were here or not though, I wouldn’t just let it go like that and I would hope you wouldn’t either.” 

“No, I wouldn’t,” she said seriously. 

“Okay, good. So…what is it that you wanted to suggest?” he asked, deliberately not using her word ‘propose’. 

“Well…that we just…lay it all out on the table. Without the dancing around and stuff. How we feel, what we’re hoping for from this, where we want it to go. All that.” 

Duke took a few deep breaths for calm before he said, “Yeah, I can see why that would scare you…who goes first?” 

“I…um…” she had really expected a lot more discussion and having to talk him into it so she wasn’t prepared at all to jump right in like that. 

“Okay, me I guess,” Duke exhaled heavily and screwed up his courage to tell her what he’d just recently admitted even to himself. “I…I love you, Audrey, and…and I hope that…we can have something real between us, and…yeah.” That was the end of his courage. 

Audrey let out a relieved sigh and smiled brightly at him. “I love you too, Duke. I have for a long time. And I want that too.” 

Duke pulled her into a searing kiss, feeling the tightness in his chest loosening with each word out of her mouth, and then something else dawned on him and he pulled back, resting his forehead against hers. “What about Nathan?”

“What about him?” she asked. 

“You and him…the way you kissed him before you left and…you said you loved him once…”

“Okay I didn’t mean that I loved him like that, but I /was/ borderline hysterical over losing my partner and one of my best friends. Not to mention still stinging a bit from what I thought was your rejection in Colorado, so I can see where you might have gotten the wrong idea. That kiss before I left was just…I knew how he felt about me. Well more like /thought/ that he felt about me. I was leaving for good…or so I thought…I wanted to give him that one memory to hold onto you know?” 

“Yeah I get that. And it was a nice thing to do. But what do you mean how he /thought/ he felt about you?” Duke asked confused. 

“If he really loved me, he would have respected my decision like you did. He wouldn’t have tried to force me to live with the fact that my presence cost so many innocent lives. Hell, he wouldn’t have screwed around with Sarah in the past and got her pregnant,” she scoffed. 

“Wait, he what?” Duke asked with wide-eyes. 

“You didn’t know that?” she asked surprised. 

“No, I was pretty tied up with my own thing most of the time we were there. I mean, I noticed some flirting and all between them, but I didn’t know it went that far. I mean…we were only there for a day,” Duke told her with a shake of his head. “So…he’s James’ father I take it?” 

“Yeah. I found that out when we both came in the barn at first. And he still risked his son’s life by trying to take out the barn…knowing that even if we could get him out, he can’t survive outside the barn. If he thinks those are acts of love, then I want no part of his version of it,” Audrey told him. 

“I can’t exactly argue with any of that…though I feel like a bad friend for not trying anyway,” Duke admitted. 

“You’re a pragmatist, Duke. It’s one of the things I love the most about you. You’re not a bad friend. You just don’t fight losing battles.”

“Okay, so we’ve established that he doesn’t love you as much as he thinks he does…or at least not the way he /should/…and that you don’t love him that way, but…do you have any feelings for him at all?” Duke had to be sure. This was part of laying it all out on the table, after all. 

“Does anger count?” Audrey joked before answering the question seriously as she knew he wanted. Completely honest without the pretty lies designed to spare his feelings. “That’s not as easy a question as you might think. I might have once, at first, and maybe if I’d never met you it might have even become something more, but even if I hadn’t met you and everything hadn’t gone to hell, I could never have loved him the way I do you. Nathan and I could never have worked.”

“But you think you and I can?” he asked hopefully. 

“Do you really think I would be taking this much of a risk if I didn’t?” she chuckled. “You pull me out of my shell in ways that I need. You get me to relax and have fun and just…enjoy life, and yeah, we’re technically on opposite sides of the law, but you’re still a good man. And you don’t cross the line far enough that I can’t live with.”

“You don’t know everything I do. Everything I’ve /done/,” Duke pointed out worriedly. 

“I don’t need to,” she said softly, brushing her hand lovingly down his cheek. “I know /you/. I know your moral code and while I don’t necessarily agree with all of it, the important parts I do. I don’t care what you’ve done in the past. What matters is who you are /now/ and yeah, I’m sure you’ll make mistakes in the future, and we’ll have our issues. Nobody’s perfect and I’m sure I’ll make my fair share of mistakes as we figure this all out too, but we’ll handle it. We’re not that fragile remember?” she reminded him. 

“No fair using my own words against me,” Duke mock-pouted. 

“Then quit giving me such good ones,” she teased before kissing away his pout. “Now…is there anything else we need to talk out before you take me to bed already?” 

Duke laughed and reached over to pick her up. “Well, with an invitation like that, how could I refuse?”


	5. Chapter 5

As Duke and Audrey laid in bed, curled up together catching their breath, they were both kicking themselves for waiting so long to get here. For not talking all this out sooner. They were just trying to get up the urge to get up and get dinner when something else dawned on Audrey. She propped up on her elbow, running a hand through Duke’s hair while the other one trailed over his chest as she said sadly, “You do realize that…if the barn gets fixed, then I’m going to have to…”

“Shh,” Duke said putting a finger to her lips to stop her. “I know. And you know that I will always respect your decisions no matter how much I hate them. But I would really rather not think about it until I have to, okay?” 

“Okay,” she agreed, leaning over to give him a lingering kiss. “I just didn’t want you to end up blindsided if you hadn’t considered it is all.”

“I know,” he told her. “And thank you for that,” he kissed her one more time before getting out of bed. “Now…what do you want for dinner?” 

They had been together for a couple weeks when Audrey brought up a subject that had been mentioned a few times before. “You said something about the Bahamas and Hawaii and stuff?” 

“Does that mean you want to go?” he asked, trailing a hand over her naked back as they laid in his bed on the boat. 

“And miss the rest of this frigid winter? What do you think?” she chuckled. 

“But won’t you miss the sledding and snowball fights?” Duke teased. 

“A little yeah,” she admitted. “But if we go then I’ll let you finally take me diving.” She had already learned to fish, and they’d hit the heated community center pool a few times so he could teach her how to use the diving equipment, but she hadn’t been in any other water with it yet since it was so cold and she didn’t care how much Duke swore about the thermal protection of the diving suits. She would get in that water over her dead body. 

“Okay then,” Duke agreed. “If I give you a list can you run into town and stock us up for the trip while I double check all the systems here to make sure nothing’s going to give out on us?” He always kept on top of the maintenance and made sure it was all in perfect condition, but there was never any harm in being absolutely sure before a long trip. 

“Absolutely,” she nodded. 

“Then we’ll be ready to leave the day after tomorrow,” he promised. “But for tonight, it’s getting late. We should get some sleep.” 

The next morning Audrey hit department store first to get some basics for the sunnier climates, not that much was in stock this time of year of course, but there was enough to get them there and they could pick up what else they needed while they were there. She was mostly glad that they had plenty of sunscreen. Duke didn’t need it so much but she tended to burn rather easily. Her next stop was the fishing supply store. Duke wanted a few extra reams of fishing line and needed restocked on hooks and other miscellaneous gear. They had long gotten her a full kit of her own so there was no need to worry about that. The last stop was the supermarket. She was glad that foodstuffs for a long boat trip were different than their normal ones since some of the staples were running low in the almost two months they’d been there. Particularly milk, eggs, and bread, neither of which they were taking since, according to Duke, they were too hard to store. Milk took up too much space and with the constant movement of the boat, bread and eggs tended to get a little battered. There were a lot of seasonings on the list along with sugar, flour, and the like. She also stocked up on what they had left of meats since they couldn’t eat fish /every/ day. 

As she surveyed the now empty meat cases, she wondered what they were going to do when they got back, but decided that it wouldn’t be /that/ difficult to head to nearby towns for grocery shopping. Maybe they would even load up the truck enough to restock this store somewhat. Or Duke could steal a tractor trailer for that. She was sure he knew how to drive one. It seemed like something he would have learned at some point. She had taken his truck since it had more storage space for the massive amounts of stuff she was getting, and got back to the Gull just in time for a Duke-cooked lunch. She spent the afternoon getting everything put away, most of it in boxes in the almost empty cargo hold and by the time Duke got back for dinner, they were both finished with their jobs for the day and he pronounced them ready to leave first thing in the morning. 

The rest of the evening after dinner was spent with Duke double checking the route he wanted to take with her. First they would be hitting the Bahamas and spending some time there before going further south to Brazil. He wanted to show her Rio even if it did lost a lot of it’s charm without the people there. Then they would come back up and cross the Panama canal and head for Hawaii, followed by Japan and then a jet down to the Australia where he promised the best diving in the world around the outlying islands. By the time they got there, she would be old hat at it. The plan was for them to be back at the start of next summer which was sixteen months away. 

They ended up spending two months in the Bahamas where Audrey became a rather accomplished diver, doing so at least three times a week. She liked fishing okay enough, but she absolutely fell in love with diving and even started doing the breathing exercises Duke gave her so that she could start free diving. He warned her that it would take years before she could hold her breath as long as him, but that just made her more determined to do it. She swore that on their next trip around the world she would be able to free dive with him. She was suitably impressed with Rio and wished that she could see it with the people there. Duke admitted that it wasn’t really his scene, but he’d been there a few times and thought that she would like it and he shared stories about his time there and the lively lifestyle they had that reminded her of the one and only time she went to New Orleans. They only stayed there for a few weeks before moving on though. 

Audrey loved Hawaii, but had to admit that between the two she would pick the Bahamas over Hawaii. That may have been because of her panic attack when she finally found a type of diving she didn’t like though. Cavern diving freaked her out big time and Duke ended up having to pull her out when she panicked. It was only his tight grip on her that left them not having to end up in a decompression chamber when she tried to ascend too fast. Once they were back on the boat and she had calmed down she was more than a little embarrassed. She told him that she’d never been claustrophobic before but being in the underwater caverns just made her feel like the walls were closing in on her and she couldn’t get any air. He assured her it was nothing to be embarrassed about. That even he had been a little uncomfortable his first time in the caverns and tried to take the blame for the incident for not warning her. She did enjoy the wreck diving though. As long as she could see the doorways…or breaks in the hull…to get out of the rooms she was good. They spent a little over a month in Hawaii before moving on to Japan. That was another place where the land was what he most wanted to show her and she was enthralled at the architecture and beauty of the country, and she was surprised to find that Duke spoke and read Japanese, at which point he admitted to also being fluent in Russian and Spanish. That was also where he let her berth the Cape Rouge for the first time. The only part that she hadn’t been completely comfortable doing yet, but Duke patiently talked her through it. 

While Audrey refused to step foot on the continent of Australia, she immediately fell in love with the coral reefs around Papua New Guinea, Indonesia, and Fiji and they ended up staying there for almost four months as they explored them all. Duke was right about the best diving in the world. Until he took a slight detour on the way home since they had a extra couple months before the start of summer there and she found a new favorite place. She could easily see why the red sea was considered one of the seven wonders of the world. When Duke told her that the reefs there were over five thousand years old she was amazed. They took some time to dive around the wrecks in the northern red sea too while they were there and even took in some of the temples and ruins on land before they got in the boat to head home. 

About halfway through their trip, Audrey officially moved from the spare bedroom into Duke’s room and they’d decided that she would stay there even when they got back home rather than her apartment. Once they got there, since it was summer now and Audrey was more than a little hooked on diving by this point, she let Duke show her all the diving hot spots close to home. Even in the summer though, she was more than glad for the thermal protection of the wetsuits. Duke did end up taking a tractor trailer to the next town, along with Audrey and the two of them loaded up with the supplies that the Haven supermarket had run out of and restocked it. That way they wouldn’t have to go so far all the time and they ended up having to do that every three months while they were home. 

They stayed through the winter and Duke even managed to get Audrey in the water during the winter too. With full body thermal protected swimwear of course. He had been right that she’d missed the sledding and snowball fights, but she couldn’t stay out of the water for the whole winter. About halfway through the following fall though, three years after they’d arrived, she pitched the idea of another trip and Duke gladly jumped on board. Right up until she suggested going north around the top of Canada. “No way. We’re not taking the Rouge through arctic waters. Not unless we actually had a full crew which we’re not even equipped for if there /were/ other people available.” 

“How come?” Audrey asked curiously. 

“I’m sure if you think for a minute you’ll figure it out,” he told her. “Think Titanic.”

“Icebergs,” she realized with wide eyes. 

“Yep. Which means the helm would have to be manned every second to avoid them. We wouldn’t even be able to drop anchor and sleep because there are enough of them floating around out there that we could get hit even while standing still. And once the alarms go off, there wouldn’t be nearly enough time to get out of bed, pull up the anchor, get to the helm, and avoid it before it hit.” 

“Yeah. I see your point about needing a full crew,” she nodded. “So, the arctic is out. I was kinda looking forward to finding the Titanic though,” she partially joked. 

“Yeah, we would need a lot more equipment including a submersible and full pressure suits to dive down that deep anyway. And that would also involve more people to run the equipment from the sub. And even then it would be more than a little dangerous. The Titanic is over two miles down. We’ve never been more than three hundred and fifty feet down and you know how tight it gets at that depth.” 

“Sounds like you’ve looked into the idea,” she chuckled. 

“Of course, I have. I’d be surprised if any diver didn’t,” he laughed. “The Titanic is like the holy grail of wreck diving.” 

In the end they decided to make much the same trip as the last time, leaving off Rio and Japan and adding some lesser known but amazing locations that Duke knew of around Africa now that she was a more experienced diver. She got her wish and was able to free dive with him during that trip too. She wasn’t quite up to his sixteen minutes holding his breath, but she could go a solid twelve. He told her that it got infinitely harder after that point and that it took him almost a decade to get from ten to sixteen, so twelve was excellent after only three years. This time they were gone for eighteen months and once again got back for the start of summer.


	6. Chapter 6

That winter they actually had another visitor for the first time. They had been eating in the Gull when he arrived and Audrey couldn’t help but get up and hug Agent Howard. “Oh, I’m so glad you’re okay. I was worried.”

Howard’s eyes widened as he tentatively hugged her back before he got to the reason for his visit. “I’m not yet…okay, as you put it. But I am functioning again, yes, and now that I am, I thought it best to let you know what the plan is for the next while.”

“Okay, yeah. That would be appreciated,” Audrey told him, motioning for him to join her and Duke at the table and the two men exchanged polite nods. 

“You may be relieved to know that during power conservation mode, time moves more slowly here, so currently only five months have passed on Earth. By the time we return it will have been six months,” Howard told them. 

“So…we’ll be here for another year then?” Duke asked doing the quick math in his head. When Howard nodded, he said, “Okay…and then what? You drop me off and take Audrey away like planned?” he asked, ignoring the bile rising in his throat at the very thought. 

“No. Unfortunately the damage to the barn was extensive. Only the most basic systems are back online. We are currently…limping as you might say, back towards Earth to drop you both off and then we must limp back to our world for more in-depth repairs,” Howard told them. 

“Okay, but…why don’t you just take us back with you while you do the repairs?” Audrey asked curiously. 

“Because the barn will not be able to sustain this internal world during the repair process and on our world, while you would be fine since you are one of us, Earth humans cannot survive on our world,” Howard explained. 

“Why not?” Duke asked curiously. 

“While we all breathe oxygen, yes, the air on our world is almost pure oxygen…”

“Hyperoxia,” Duke nodded understandingly. It was occasionally a problem for divers if their oxygen mixture was too high. 

“Hang on. Let’s get back to this whole me being an alien thing,” Audrey interrupted. 

“You are not an alien per se. You are still human. Just slightly more evolved,” Howard told her before moving on. “Once the barn is repaired on our world, it will return to pick you up again and after that the schedule will resume as before.” 

“Does that meant that the troubles didn’t disappear?” Duke was the one to ask. They had guessed at it many times over the years, but wishful thinking had them hoping that they had. 

“No. They did not. The barn was barely able to avoid fully being destroyed. Carrying out any but the most basic of functions was impossible and until now we have been running on emergency power only,” Howard told them. 

“This whole world here is a ‘basic function’?” Duke asked incredulously. 

“This is simply a simulation. It runs on emergency power for just this eventuality. To allow anyone trapped here to survive in relative comfort until normal operations could resume. It takes very little power,” Howard told them. 

“How long will we have?” Audrey asked. “I mean back on Earth before the barn is repaired.”

“Repairs are estimated to take three Earth years and one more to make the trip from Earth to home, so you will need to manage the troubles for four more years before they can be removed,” Howard told them. “Which brings up another subject. I understand that you were informed of the alternate way to end the troubles yes?” 

“There’s another way?” Duke asked, turning to look at Audrey, hurt that she hadn’t told him. 

“It’s not an option,” she told them both curtly. 

“What is it?” Duke asked, not willing to let her sidestep it like that. 

“To kill the one she loves the most,” Howard told them. “But there is a reason that the option is not given as a matter of course. That is a failsafe option in case of dire emergency.”

“Why is that?” Audrey asked, hoping that whatever he had to say would keep Duke from asking her to do it. 

“It is correct that it will end the troubles, but it will do so by killing every troubled person in the world. Including those who have not yet activated their trouble. Anyone who has the genetic marker for the troubles will die the moment the failsafe is activated. It was created to use if all hope were ever lost.” 

“Okay, yeah. That’s definitely not an option then,” Duke easily agreed. 

Since all that was settled, Audrey had another question that had been weighing on her mind for the last five years, though Duke had helped her quite a bit when it got too heavy. “James? Is he okay? Why hasn’t he been here?” 

“The life-saving properties of the barn are too extensive to run on emergency power so he has been relegated to medical stasis since you’ve arrived. That is one of the systems that has been restored so if you wish, he can be brought out of stasis to spend the remaining year with the two of you, though the twenty mile radius of this simulation will remain to compensate for the increase in power. He would have to go back into stasis during the repair process, however.”

“Why?” Audrey asked. 

“Because the barn must be empty for the repairs to take place, and he cannot survive outside of the barn unless he is in full stasis,” Howard explained. 

“What about the prisoner…or prisoners the cranky computer mentioned? They’re not going to be dumped on Earth too are they?” Duke asked worriedly. 

“No. He will be transferred to a prison on our world during the repair process.”

“Why not keep him there then?” Audrey asked curiously. 

“Because it requires more than one person to power the barn. You are necessary to tie the troubles to the barn and the nature of the troubles require periodic recharging, but he powers the barn as a whole.” 

“What did he do to deserve that?” Duke asked disgustedly. 

“Co-created and spread the troubles in the first place,” Howard told them. 

“With me,” Audrey said in barely a whisper as she realized it. “I’m right aren’t I?” she looked back up at Howard. “That’s why I’m the one tied to them. Why I have to be the one to make the sacrifice every time. You rewrote that personality didn’t you?” 

“That is correct,” Howard nodded. “You are no longer the same person you were then, so the blame does not rest with you, but the responsibility, I’m sorry to say, does. The troubles are still tied to your existence, no matter your personality and while Mara did show some remorse in the end, hence the rehabilitation project you are currently involved in, the co-conspirator has never shown any shred of such and thus remains imprisoned for his crimes.” 

“Okay, I can’t argue with that,” Duke admitted. Seeing all the horror the troubles caused and knowing that he had no remorse made him deserve anything they threw at him. 

“Duke, I…” Audrey’s throat closed up before she could say anything, not that she had much idea what she could possibly say to make any of this okay. 

“/You/ did nothing,” Duke told her, putting one hand on hers and the other to her cheek. “/You/ are the trouble-/helper/. The /savior/ for the troubled. And no one will ever find out where they originated from me. You have my word.” 

Somehow hearing that from him made it so much better and she let out a heavy relieved breath and leaned her head against his hand with a whispered, “Thank you.” 

“We have gotten off track,” Howard was nice enough to wait until they finished their moment to say. “I must return to standby mode soon. Do you wish for James to join you for the remainder of the journey?” 

“Yes. Please,” Audrey said quickly before turning to Duke with something like an apology written in her face. 

“Absolutely,” Duke said seriously to both her and Howard, squeezing Audrey’s hand in acceptance. Not only would he never begrudge her the chance to know her son, but he wanted the chance to know him too. He was practically his stepson after all. 

“Very well,” Howard nodded and then James was standing there next to them looking a little disoriented. 

“James,” Audrey breathed out rushing over to pull him into a hug. 

“Mom,” he said happily, hugging her just as tightly as Duke took a step out of the way for the reunion. 

“You will not see me again until we arrive on Earth,” Howard said getting a teary nod of thanks from Audrey over James’ shoulder. 

“Hang on. I have a couple more questions while they’re getting reacquainted,” Duke said waving Howard off to the side so they didn’t interrupt. 

“I don’t have long, so make them quick.”

“First, do we need to be anywhere particular for the transfer or anything?”

“You do not. You can continue to explore this world as you wish,” Howard told him. 

“Okay, and when we go back to Earth…you’re not going to strand us out on Kick ‘Em Jenny Neck where the barn usually appears are you?” he asked worriedly. 

“No. I was planning to return you near your restaurant,” Howard told him. 

“Okay. That’s good enough. Thanks,” Duke told him. He wasn’t sure of the status of the restaurant or his boat or even Audrey’s old apartment above the Gull. For all he knew they thought he was dead and sold it all off. He hoped that wasn’t the case though. Either way, ending up near it would be fine. 

“You are welcome,” Howard said before he disappeared.

“Duke…come here and meet James,” Audrey called him over once he finished his conversation with Howard. 

“Nice to meet you,” Duke said giving him a hearty handshake, taking a moment to register the fact that they were about the same age. 

“You too,” James nodded.


	7. Chapter 7

“Here let me go make you a plate,” Duke told James as he got back up. He had made extra so they could have leftovers for lunch tomorrow while he was working on the boat, but this was more important. “I’m sure you’re hungry after being in stasis for so long.”

“Actually, I am. Thank you,” James told him before turning to his mother. “What happened? I remember Arla stabbing me and you…but then…”

“Oh honey, that is such a long story,” Audrey said reaching a hand to her son’s cheek as thought to make sure he was really real. 

“That’s an understatement,” Duke said wryly as he set James’ plate down in front of him. “I can give you two some privacy…”

“No,” Audrey reached over to take his hand. “No, stay. You can help me explain.” The last thing she wanted was for Duke to feel left out just because she had her son now. She wanted Duke to be a part of his life too. 

“Okay, I guess it starts with the fact that the barn was damaged. Badly. We saw it going down and I jumped in after your mom to try and get her out,” Duke explained his presence first and then realized how that sounded. “Not that I wouldn’t have preferred to save you too, but since we knew that you couldn’t live outside the barn…”

“No, I get it. There was only one of us you could have saved,” James told him. “You made the right call. But since you’re both here I’m guessing it didn’t work?”

“No. The barn shut down and went into emergency power. Best we can tell, it was running this simulated world for us, your stasis chamber and a prison cell lockdown and that was it. Howard said that the life-sustaining properties of the barn that keep you alive were down along with everything else which was why you had to stay in stasis until they were back up.”

“How long has it been?” James asked. 

“In here? Five years,” she told him. 

“We’re only going to be here for another year though before we get back to Earth and have to go help the troubles again and the barn has to go in for repairs,” Duke told him. 

“So you two are…together?” James asked curiously, getting nods from them both. “I guess that answers the question I asked you before,” he chuckled. 

When Duke looked at Audrey curiously she told him, “He asked me who it was that I love.” She turned back to James. “But what you don’t know about that method is that it will end the troubles by killing everyone associated with them, so it never would have been an option anyway.”

“Lucy didn’t tell me that,” James said with a wince. Since Audrey seemed to want to be mom now he was trying to get in the habit of calling old her Lucy to differentiate. 

“I don’t think she knew,” Audrey told him. “But since that’s out of the way…tell me about you. The people who raised you…they were good to you?” 

“Yeah,” James nodded with a smile. “Dad…my adopted dad I mean…”

“I know what you mean. They have a lot more right to be called that than Nathan or I do,” she told him. 

“It wasn’t your fault,” James assured her. “This whole situation is just messed up. You did the best you could.” 

“I know. But I still wish I could have been there,” Audrey told him. 

“Me too,” James smiled. “But like I was saying, Dad died when I was seven in a hunting accident, so it was mostly just me and mom.”

“That’s rough,” Duke said sympathetically. “My dad died when I was eight, so I can relate.” 

James gave him a grateful nod before continuing, “And of course my real dad hadn’t even been born yet, so…”

“So you never really had a father figure,” Audrey said sadly. 

“Don’t worry kid. I’ve known your dad since we were five. I’ll tell you everything you want to know about him. And some things you probably don’t,” Duke chuckled. 

“You wouldn’t,” Audrey said amusedly. Duke just raised an eyebrow at her and she said, “Okay, you would. Just…keep it clean at least?” 

“Like I would ever be so cruel as to put those kinds of images in anyone’s head…I’m not a monster,” Duke told them both with a grin. “That doesn’t mean there isn’t a lot of other ground we can cover. Like senior prom.” 

“What about it?” James asked eagerly, leaning forward to hear the story. Audrey was just as interested, having never heard this story before. 

“Your dad took his first girlfriend. Hannah. Her dad hated Nate with a passion though and forbade them to go so she snuck out. We’re a little over halfway through the night, Nate and Hannah are dancing…and not with any kind of ‘respectable’ distance between them, when her dad comes bursting through the doors, drunk as a skunk. The good reverend stormed over, punched Nate and then literally dragged Hannah out the door.” 

“Oh god. Poor Nathan,” Audrey said sympathetically. 

“Oh no, it gets better,” Duke grinned. “See Nate had been deep into the spiked punch all night…never could hold his liquor that one…so once the punch came and he hit the floor, he apparently decided that he liked it there and promptly passed out.” Both Audrey and James snickered at that. “I went to try and help him, but he wasn’t waking up for anything so I hoisted him over my shoulder and carried him out, took him home, basically tossed him in his bedroom window…but I was nice enough to climb in and at least put him in his bed in case his father came looking for him.” 

“You were the one who spiked the punch weren’t you?” Audrey asked knowingly. 

“I admit to nothing,” Duke said with a smug smirk and a twinkle of mischief in his eyes. 

“That means yes,” she stage whispered to James. 

“I got that,” James returned amusedly. 

“Okay, so one thing about that story, I’m having trouble wrapping my head around,” Audrey told him. 

“What’s that?” Duke asked. 

“/You/ went to /prom/?”

Duke barked a laugh before admitting, “Lisa Botki promised me the code to her dad’s safe if I took her to prom.”

“Okay now /that/ I can believe,” Audrey laughed. 

“Of course, she reneged on her part of the deal when I abandoned her to help Nate.” 

“Well, that’s not fair,” James chuckled. “Were you just supposed to leave him there like that?” 

“Apparently.” 

“So you and my dad were like best friends or something?” James asked. 

“I don’t think I’ve ever been ‘best friends’ with anyone in my life until your mom came around,” Duke said amusedly. “Nate and I were…complicated. Sometimes we were friends, sometimes we were enemies.”

“I want to hear what happened to cause that big falling out that you guys were still in when I got to Haven,” Audrey prompted. “Nathan never did tell me that story.”

“That…was mostly a misunderstanding,” Duke shrugged. “See I had been gone for about ten years or so and when I got back I wanted to look up my old friends. Invited Nate out fishing, but we were stopped by a coast guard patrol who wanted to search the boat. He flashed his badge and called them off…which I never asked him to do, might I point out.”

“Then why did he?” James asked curiously. 

“I don’t know. He never said. Maybe just to avoid the hassle or prevent any delays. It was pretty late by that point and we were already packing up to head back,” Duke shrugged. “But anyway, once he found out that I’d been carrying illegal contraband on the boat he lost it. Accused me of just using him for his badge to get me out of trouble. We had a big fight and until recently, he hated me ever since.” 

“Well, it’s a good thing he did call off the coast guard if you were carrying that stuff anyway,” Audrey tried to point out. 

“Oh please. You should know I’m not that reckless. I’ve been searched a dozen times and they’ve never found anything I didn’t want them to find,” Duke rolled his eyes. 

“So you’re…what…a smuggler or something?” James asked. 

“I’m a businessman,” Duke told him. “Just not all of my business is above-board.” 

“That means yes,” Audrey stage whispered to James again who laughed. The rest of the evening and long into the night was spent with the three of them getting to know each other with plenty of stories about Nathan thrown in, mostly by Duke, but Audrey contributed quite a few as well.


	8. Chapter 8

After dinner, Audrey offered James her old apartment, but Duke jumped in and pointed out that there was a spare room on the boat too if he would rather. James decided on the apartment, not wanting to be close enough to hear or worse…accidentally walk in on…anything those two got up to, which was why Audrey hadn’t offered the spare room first. Not when there was a perfectly good empty apartment right upstairs. 

It was after one am before they got him settled and all went their separate ways, and once Duke and Audrey were curled up together in bed, Duke suggested, “You should offer to teach him how to dive and if he likes it, we can spend this last year on one more trip so you can show him all the best sites.”

“That’s a good idea. It would be something fun that we can all share and give him a chance to see the world even if he can never live in the real thing,” Audrey nodded. As much as she wished that he could have a life, at least she could give him this. 

“And…there was one more thing I was thinking about…now that we know we’re going back and when,” Duke said nervously. 

“What is it?” Audrey asked, confused about his nerves. She could count on one hand the number of times that Duke was actually nervous.

“Well what if…when we got back…we got married?” he suggested. 

Audrey broke out in a wide grin and kissed him soundly before the problems dawned on her. “I would love nothing more than to be your wife, Duke, but…”

“But…” 

“My identity and everything…they aren’t really mine. They belong to the /real/ Audrey Parker. I mean, I can get away with it in Haven, but a legal marriage…that’s registered on the federal level too, so…”

“Oh. Right. I didn’t think of that,” Duke sighed and took a moment to try and think of a way around it. “So, we just exchange rings and consider ourselves married. Who cares about the legalities anyway?” 

“When have you /ever/ cared about legalities?” Audrey laughed as she considered it. “But in this case, I agree with you. And if we’re doing it that way we don’t even have to wait until we go back. We can go to the jewelry store in town and do it here. Then James can be there too. Unless you actually want to do a whole production back home.”

“Me? Actually /want/ a production of it? You do realize who you’re talking to right?” Duke laughed. “If you want to do it here with James that’s what we’ll do. We can just exchange rings, say a few words, and call it a day.” 

“Sounds perfect to me,” Audrey grinned. 

“I’m not sure if the rings will follow us home though,” Duke pointed out. He could just get them new ones there, but wanted her to be prepared for that. 

“I hope they do,” Audrey said with a shudder as she considered the implications. “Because if they don’t then that would mean that anything else we were wearing might not either if we can’t take things from here out there and I don’t even /remember/ what I was wearing when we got here.” 

Duke barked a laugh as he considered the spectacle they might make in that eventuality. “Well if it helps, we’re getting dropped off near the Gull so assuming they haven’t decided we were dead and gotten rid of everything we’ll be close enough to your apartment and my boat that we won’t have to streak /too/ far.” 

“I didn’t even think of that,” Audrey’s eyes widened. “What if they do think we’re dead and got rid of all our stuff?” 

“Relax, sweetheart. We’ll still be covered,” Duke promised. “I have more than enough money hidden in offshore accounts that I can move some around and get us all set up again.” 

“You’re sure they won’t be found too?” she asked hopefully. 

“Positive. Not only are they routed through about a dozen different shell companies and dummy corporations, but the accounts themselves are completely anonymous. Numbers instead of names. And they’re in the Caymans which means top notch security.”

“Why the Caymans?” she asked curiously. 

“One, no extradition treaty. Two, it’s one of the only places with good security that allows anonymity. The only place better is Switzerland but that’s landlocked. If I ever have to disappear it’ll be in the Caymans,” Duke explained. 

“How many accounts and how much money are we talking about?” she asked, figuring that if they were going to be married, she should probably at least have some idea of what he had available. 

“Last time I checked a few years ago, each of my four accounts had somewhere around five hundred thousand, and they’ve just been sitting there earning interest since then, so probably more. My main account in Haven, assuming it’s still there has about four hundred thousand and then the business account for the Gull had about two hundred thousand,” Duke gave her the entire financial overview. 

Audrey sat up and looked at him in shock and for a long moment all she could do is blink at him as she added the numbers in her head over and over again, unable to believe what she’d come up with. “You mean to tell me…that you have over two and a half million dollars.” 

“Probably closer to three by now, but yeah. And I think you mean /we/ have, wife-to-be,” he smirked. 

“Just do me a favor and don’t ever tell me how you…or /we/…got it?” 

“Wasn’t planning on it,” Duke chuckled, grabbing her arm and yanking her back down with him. “Not even going to tell you how to access the offshore accounts since the activity could lead to other things you don’t want to know.” 

“I appreciate that,” Audrey said gratefully. 

“I will get you access to my Haven accounts though,” he told her. 

“I can live with that,” she agreed. She didn’t bother promising not to clean him out because he knew she wasn’t like that. She didn’t need his money…well unless all hers had been liquidated with her ‘death’ in which case she would need /some/, but it was mostly a gesture for him letting her into his life as far as he could given her profession and she took it the way it was meant.

The next morning Duke made breakfast at the Gull for James’ sake while Audrey took two cups of coffee up to the apartment. She and James sat out on the balcony with the coffee chatting until Duke called up that breakfast was ready. Audrey had decided to wait to tell James about the ‘sort of’ wedding until they all got to know each other a little better, but she did bring up Duke’s other idea. “Have you ever done any diving?” she asked James. 

“Diving like off a diving board?” James asked confused. Who hadn’t?

“No, like scuba diving,” she clarified. 

“Not really no. I always wanted to, but it wasn’t something I ever got around to. Why?” 

“Duke and I dive and we were wondering if you wanted us to teach you. And then maybe we could take a trip and show you some of the best spots around the world for diving since we’ve only got a year together and all.”

“Yeah. That would be great. I’d love to go diving with you two,” James grinned. 

“Why don’t you two start the lessons today while I’m working on the boat,” Duke suggested. 

“That’s a great idea,” Audrey agreed. “James?” 

“Sounds good to me.” 

“Perfect. We’ll go get you kitted out after breakfast and hit the pool so I can show you how to work everything. It’ll probably take a week or two before you’re ready to graduate to the ocean though.”

“Then I’ll get us all set to leave in two weeks?” Duke asked, getting agreements from the others. While Audrey was good with driving the boat, she’d never really come to enjoy the maintenance part. The most important things she could handle in an emergency since both of them thought that much was a good idea, but she left most of the boat care in Duke’s hands and there were a few parts that were wearing down and needed to be replaced before another long trip. 

James was a quick study and he and Audrey were ready to go in a week and a half, but Duke had a minor setback with the boat. The three of them travelled to Olympia to find a new bilge pump. Technically, Duke could have machined the one they had back to like new condition, but while he was good, he wasn’t good enough to trust his own skills for such a long trip. A new one would be best. Duke hadn’t had a lot of time to spend with James and Audrey with all the work he was doing on the boat, but he did join them for dinner every night and a few hours afterwards. He thought it was better that way anyway. Give James and Audrey a chance to know each other first. Once they were on the water all that changed though.


	9. Chapter 9

By the time they reached the Bahamas, he and James were just as close as James was with Audrey and they told him about their ‘almost’ wedding that they wanted him there for. “You don’t want to do it out in the real world?” he asked surprised. “Or are you going to do one there too?” 

“Well since we can’t make it legal anyway without her having a real identity and neither of us are particularly close to anyone other than Nate who probably isn’t going to be thrilled about the idea, there’s not much point in doing it out there,” Duke told him. “We’re both closer to you than we are anyone in the real world.”

“And you’re my son. If anyone is going to be there I want it to be you,” Audrey told him. 

“Then, yeah. Okay. I’m on board,” James said before looking at Duke with a smirk. “Does this mean I can call you Dad now?” 

Duke barked a laugh, but he could see the hint of seriousness in James’ eyes, reminding him that the kid had never known a father figure so he just said, “Only if you want to,” keeping the same light tone and making it not a big thing because it really wasn’t. Just because the kid was only a few years younger than him biologically speaking, having spent so long in stasis in the barn, didn’t mean it had to be weird. It wasn’t weird for James to call Audrey mom so whatever. They were from Haven. They ate weird for breakfast. 

They berthed at Nassau a couple days later and he and Audrey hit the jewelry store to pick out rings and the set they liked included an engagement ring that connected to the wedding ring so they got that too. They took the boat back to the water and stood out on the bow, with James standing back a ways to watch and Duke went first. He slid the ring on Audrey’s finger as he said, “I promise to love you for the rest of my life, no matter how far apart we may be. With this ring, I thee wed.” 

Audrey smiled brightly and slid Duke’s ring on his finger as she said, “My heart will always belong to you, even after I’m gone. With this ring, I thee wed.” Duke pulled her into a soft loving kiss to applause from James and the rest of the evening was spent in as much of a party as they could manage which just amounted to booze, music, a little dancing for fun, and mostly just sitting around and enjoying themselves. 

James fell just as much in love with the diving as Audrey and Duke were, especially once they visited their first sunken ship. That was his favorite part. Not that he didn’t love the coral reefs and the variety of ocean life they encountered, but the wrecks were just cool. Once they cut across to Hawaii, Duke took him to the caverns…with fair warning this time, telling James to just let him know if he needed to turn back. James loved it though and the rest of their time in Hawaii, at least once or twice a week, he and Duke would go and explore the caverns just the two of them. 

Once they got to the pinnacle which Audrey had wanted to save for last, the red sea, Duke unveiled a surprise. Since they had three people now, they could have someone up top to run the equipment for the deep pressure suit dives. Duke offered to man the equipment first if they both wanted to try it and they did. James wasn’t the biggest fan of it though, finding it too bulky and uncomfortable. Audrey didn’t necessarily disagree with that part, but thought it was worth it for all the new treasures they found, so Duke taught James to run the top and he went down deep with Audrey once or twice a week and the rest of the time the three of them hit the normal depth attractions. 

James never did start calling Duke ‘dad’ in seriousness though he did throw it out jokingly every so often. He just knew that once this year was over, he would probably never see Duke again. Not for more than a few minutes when the barn stopped for pickup anyway, so there was no point getting /that/ attached. Not that he wasn’t pretty attached anyway, of course, but every little bit would help once he was gone. During their trip Duke also taught him to fish, drive the boat, and some basic maintenance on the boat during their ‘guy time’ while his time with Audrey was mostly spent relaxing and chatting. Not that he and Duke didn’t talk while they were doing other things, but it wasn’t the main focus. 

Duke and Audrey didn’t get a lot of alone time during that year other than the nights in bed, but neither of them were complaining. They’d had five years with no one but each other and only one year to spend with James so they were taking the opportunity with both hands. Duke in particular, was stocking up on stories that he could tell Nathan about his son, knowing that it was the only way he would ever really be able to get to know him, just like he was telling James everything he knew about Nathan. If their positions were reversed, he would have wanted Nathan to do that for him. He knew what it was like to be separated from your child, after all. He still had the picture that Audrey had sent him of Jean. 

Duke even suggested that James to keep a journal or write letters or something similar that they could give to Nathan and Audrey was very much behind that idea. Even with as mad as she was at Nathan for what he did, he still deserved to know his son as much as possible and he was still her friend. They obviously couldn’t promise they could get it to him, but they would try. They weren’t even sure if they could take things from this world yet. Duke just knew how much his family journal had meant to him, though it would have meant a lot more if it hadn’t been as awful as it was. When James asked him for advice on what to include, he told him the sorts of things he would want to know about Jean if he ever had the opportunity. 

They were still puttering around the red sea when Howard arrived one evening as they were sitting on the deck having after-dinner drinks. “We will be to Earth soon. You should be getting ready to go.” 

“Will we be able to take things from here with us?” Audrey asked hopefully. 

“Only what you are wearing,” he told them. “The transportation field is not strong enough for more than that with two people to take.” 

“That includes what’s in our pockets?” Duke asked hopefully, having planned for that eventuality in his normal bending the rules kind of way. 

“Yes,” Howard nodded before turning to James as they rushed to change. Where they were headed was definitely not tropical weather. “You will have a choice,” he told James. “Once we arrive at our next destination, you will have to go back into stasis, but until then, you are free to explore this world as you wish or you can go into stasis once they are gone.” 

“You said it’ll take about a year by outside time to get there?” James confirmed and when Howard nodded, he asked, “And time in here will still be running at this slower rate?” Howard nodded again. “Then I’ll take the stasis,” James told him. “Twelve years without another soul to speak to in a world all by myself doesn’t exactly sound appealing.” 

“Very well. You will be transferred once we drop our passengers off,” Howard agreed just in time for Duke and Audrey to come back out, dressed more appropriately for a Maine summer. “Do you have any more questions for me before I leave you to say your goodbyes?” 

“No. Thank you,” Audrey told him, hugging him gently which he was almost expecting this time and wasn’t nearly as uncomfortable returning and then he disappeared. Audrey turned to James and pulled him into a tight hug. “I’ll miss you so much.” 

“I’ll miss you too, mom,” James told her, hugging her just as tightly. “I’m glad I got to know this version of you too. I just hope the next one is as awesome as you are.” 

“I’m sure she’ll love you just as much as I do,” Audrey assured him. 

“Love you too, mom,” James whispered before letting go and then it was Duke’s turn to crush him in a hug. “Thanks for everything, Duke.”

“Anytime kid,” Duke told him as he stepped back leaving a hand on the back of James’ neck as he looked him in the eyes. “I’m glad I got a chance to know you, and I’m sorry I won’t be able to be a part of the rest of your life.” 

“Me too,” James said softly. “I’ll miss you.” 

“Me too,” Duke replied with a hint of amusement before pulling him into one more bear hug and pressing a kiss to his temple. “Love ya kid.” 

“Love you too,” James replied, eyes filling with tears. “Take good care of mom for me?” 

“Always,” Duke promised and then he was released to Audrey again. 

“I hope that, once I get back, I’ll get at least a little bit of time with you as this me before they make me someone else, but even if I don’t…I hope you have a great life, James. And be happy. And…” Audrey sniffled, too overcome for more words and James just hugged her tightly. 

“I know, mom. Same goes to you. Have as great a life as you can for as long as you can,” James told her. Once he stepped back again, Duke and Audrey disappeared and then he knew no more either as the simulated world faded back to the dull white walls.

**Author's Note:**

> The rest of this story is going to be posted a sequel since the tone with obviously be changing quite a bit back in the real world.


End file.
